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Sunday, October 23, 2011

Shadows on the Sand ~ Review

I love books.
I love the smell and the crispness of a new book.
I get giddy when a new book arrives.
Books take you places.

It breaks my heart when I need to review a book that I can't love.
I don't like being a "Negative Nellie".
I like to encourage, not discourage.
However, I need to be honest.
But, my review is my honest opinion. Mine alone.
Read the following review but make your decision as whether to read this book by looking at other reviews....not just mine.

Here we go.....Shadows on the Sand -- A Seaside Mystery by Gayle Roper is a fiction/suspense tale.

Carrie Carter owns a diner is a small town known for a busy tourist season in the summer months. The story begins after the tourist season is over and we meet many locals at Carrie's diner. Too many, in fact, I had a hard time keeping straight who was who.

The story centers around Carrie and Greg Barnes who lost his family in an explosion. An accident which haunts him. From the beginning of the book, you'll know Carrie has a crush on Greg. Greg, is a little slow to catch on although he has his suspicions of this crush.

There is a death/murder of Carrie's employee in the first few chapters but then we seem to get sidetracked by someone trying to run over Greg, which no one knows if it was on purpose or an accident. The incident with Greg begins too many pages talking about people tweeting about who saw what. And, the death/murder of Carrie's employee is not mentioned for so long I almost forgot there was a death/murder. We do come back to this death but I felt the flow was inconsistent.

I felt a little confused as we went into the past and present of both Carrie & Greg's lives. There are happenings in both of their lives that we need to know because it effects the story. I just found myself wondering a few times how we got from "here to there".

To be honest, if I'm going to read suspense, it has to grab me from page one. This, sadly, did not. I read reviews of this book before I even requested it from WaterBrook Multnomah and many gave it high reviews. I feel guilty for not enjoying the book more. But, I can't lie. I found myself mentally drifting to my to-do list instead of focusing on each page.

If you like suspense, by all mean, read other reviews by others at places like waterbrookmultnomah.com or amazon.com. Others have enjoyed this Gayle Roper book and you may be one of them.

“I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. Reviews are my own honest opinion.”